Splinters
by skipper-of-otters
Summary: An northland otter scholar attempts to understand and stop an outbreak of violence in his homeland. Contains a possible explanation for vermin/goodbeasts.


Splinters, Prologue  
  
Author's notes:  
  
This version of "Splinters" has been censored somewhat in parts. The original material will be located on the Redwall Fanfiction Board.  
  
Parts of this story are based on real life issues. However, not all of it is. In many cases, I have combined several issues into one, so you'll need to figure some of it out yourself. Of course, you can contact me.  
  
Who am I?  
  
Most call me Sturmovik. Does that name really say who I am? No.  
  
Am I a fighter? Only when I have to be.  
  
A wanderer? Yes, but that still does not describe me.  
  
A crazy young travelling otter scholar trying to do the impossible? Perhaps.  
  
A leader? I wish I didn't have to be.  
  
While in some ways I am all of these things, they do not describe me, or my mission. I'll let you judge who I am after you've read my story, but if you are to understand me, you must understand my past. To understand my past, you must understand where I come from.  
  
I am a northlander. I come from a land of violence. Violence that very few understand, and that even less want to understand. They would rather keep fighting their petty little wars than come up with a real solution to their problems.  
  
Maybe I'm just different. Maybe I'm smarter then they are. Maybe I'm just crazy. The fact remains that I was lucky enough to be very well educated, something that is rare in the northlands. Looking back on it, I shouldn't have been so well educated. But somehow, I was, and because of it I decided to learn some things on my own. What I managed to piece together was what just might be a way out.  
  
The problem? Few are willing to think about anything other than their personal fights. Even if they can, many see me as crazy. I hope this story can teach you otherwise.  
  
Before you start reading, you need to understand one thing: history repeats itself.  
  
For years, northlanders have been condemned to repeat their own history. This is because they lost their own history countless years back. I was lucky enough to set myself on the right track before I managed to piece together our history, because finding all the pieces took me a very long time.  
  
The history of the northlands does not start in the northlands itself, but rather in the more heavily populated southern regions. In early times, most species kept more or less to themselves. Each developed it's own economy, culture, and religion. Each species became specialized. Squirrels, for example, became masters of the forests, just as otters mastered the water. In time, some species started to become allies with each other, finding that the combination of their specialties was extremely effective. Eventually, the civilizations that we know today began to form. However, with these alliances also came splinters - groups that just couldn't seem to fit in. They were heavily discriminated against by those that did fit in. These groups are what many now call "vermin". Eventually, these "vermin" formed their own alliances, though most didn't last too long.  
  
Until one fox, known as Volkantis, came, with a vision. One to unite the splinters, and to start their own civilization. Under his leadership, many of the splinters united into a civilization of their own. They found some of the best farmland in the southlands, and settled there. Meanwhile, he organized groups of rats into sea traders for his civilization.  
  
Unfortunately for Volkantis, cleared farmland happens to be very valuable in forested areas. Even in the early days of civilization in the south. Some of the most powerful of the so called "goodbeast" alliances made a pact, vowing to take the land from this newcomer and his bunch of rag tags. So they did.  
  
Volkantis was no general, and having just started to set up in the area, he really stood no chance against the highly trained and better equiped invading armies. As he started to lose territory, he decided to move to a last resort strategy. He would destroy everything, leaving nothing for his enemies, and maybe take some of them out in the process. This strategy has been used many times since. However, Volkantis's version of this strategy was even more devastating than most others in history. Historians have given it the name it carries today because it was one of the most terrifying and deadly events in the history of the world. Today, the name of Volkantis's last ditch tactic is used to indicate total destruction. It was known as scorched earth.  
  
Volkantis's original strategy worked much too well for his own good. The fire not only took out many of the invaders but also much of the land around his territory. It's not a good idea to annoy those living around you, something that accidentally lighting fire to your neighbour's homes has a tendency to do. Needless to say, the after effects of the action were not pretty. Even if everyone agreed that Volkantis had the right to defend his territory in such a manner, even if they knew that the burning of the surrounding area was an accident, Volkantis most likely would not have survived. With the lack of understanding present at the time, the fox was now in well over his head. Volkantis's enemies were easily able to rally the normally peaceful woodlanders against Volkantis, and crushed his remaining forces. Volkantis and his high ranked officers had quite the fate in store for them, which I will not go into the details of here because I don't think you want to get vomit on the pages of this book. I know I don't and I was very nearly sick to my stomach after reading it. Needless to say, disembowelment has a tendency to seriously reduce a creature's lifespan.  
  
What happened next explains exactly why we have many of the problems we have in our world today. First, the rat traders lost access to ports, and had to rely on piracy to make a living. Sound familiar? The piracy also got worse over time. In addition, Volkantis's supporters, as well as many so called "vermin" who had nothing to do with the whole battle, were rounded up and exiled in what must have taken one heck of a lot of ships to pull off. While they could have easily exiled the creatures to Mossflower, Volkantis's enemies decided that they would rather have Mossflower between them and their enemies. This was likely due to the fact that many of Volkantis's supporters were extremely annoyed about the invasion and ready to take it out on their enemies. So they exiled them to the northlands, which are cold and difficult to survive in, but they didn't care as long as it was difficult to escape.  
  
To keep order among the extremely angry "vermin" they sent a military force consisting of their society's less desirable members - those with a history of violence. They then sent several well trained military leaders to keep order among their own troops. Surprisingly, this paid off, and soon the northland "goodbeasts" had the first in a line of many well trained armies. They may have been a bit rowdy, but they were effective.  
  
Then everything went straight to hellgates. First off, although the coastal areas of the northlands actually possessed some rather good farmland, these places were inhabited by rare creatures such as wolves and wildcats. Many of these creatures were wiped out early in the exiles's campaign to survive, since they had control of the good farmland in the area, and many of these creatures became exiles in their own lands, surviving by acquiring goods through often violent thefts. In the end, the wildcats were pushed back to one city, and the wolves were forced into the wilderness  
  
In an ironic twist of events, the goodbeasts decided to take the good farmland that had been seized. Unfortunately, this time around those who didn't have good farmland would be starving after a short period of time in the sparse northlands, and things turned ugly. In the first attacks, the much larger "vermin" faction wiped out much of the so called "goodbeast" faction. The vermin gained back a fair amount of land, but it was not enough to support all of them. The "vermin" themselves broke back into factions again, fighting each other. Over time, more good farmland was found farther inland around rivers and such, but the cycle of violence was already set. Even now we have fights between "vermin" factions and goodbeasts, but nobody remembers why they started.  
  
Not all hope was lost, however. Some of the creatures left for Mossflower, and established the mostly rural civilization that exists in that part of the world today. At one time in the far past, many of the exiles joined up with the last remaining wildcat city, creating an army that became a superpower in it's time. After an alliance with one of the other great northland armies, the wildcats and their allies managed to assert some control over the northlands. Enough to stop the majority of the petty conflicts in the area, at least.  
  
Then their empire collapsed, and with it, everything splintered again, this time into small empires along with minor factions. Many of the small empires are poised to go to war with each other, plunging the northlands into violence unseen since it's early days.  
  
I can't stand by and let this happen. That's why I've been trying to stop it.  
  
I can tell what you're thinking. It's impossible. Indeed, one slip on my part would most likely kill me and my companions. Worse, it could trigger more violence. However, I've learned a lot over the years to help my with my goal.  
  
The first is that you must understand your enemies. You must understand their motivations. It's not enough to just know about your enemy. Did Volkantis's enemies know about him? Yes. Did they understand him? Maybe. Did they give thought to what he was trying to do before they attacked? Maybe the leaders did, but the followers certainly did not. You have no idea how much trouble a "mob mentality" can cause sometimes. It's all too easy for a leader to demonize a person or group of people and unleash hatred against them. The propaganda used to convince "goodbeasts" to fight Volkantis was top notch.  
  
Second, you need to be willing to find alternatives to violence. You've always been told eliminating violent people is a good thing. In the case of extremely violent people, this may be true. However, remember that violence begets violence. In some cultures, it is considered perfectly okay to kill for revenge. In others, it's illegal, but don't think that is going to stop creatures from retaliating.  
  
So what should you do? Well, first off, you need to try to make peace with him. This can be difficult, but remember, a beast who has a sword but doesn't mind having you around is less dangerous to you than a unarmed beast who hates you. Also, it's okay to compromise. Northlanders often forget this fact. Myself, I travel heavily armed. However, I find talking to my enemies often gets the job done much more cleanly.  
  
By now you probably think I'm completely mad. Let me remind you, I was raised to be able to fight. I am a northlander. However, certain experiences I had played a key role in why I choose the set of ideals that I do. That's what I want to relate to you in this book.  
  
This is not just my story. It is also a story about those who I have helped and shaped me along the way. Some I have known for a long time, such as Kathrina, Red Beret, and Jäger. Others have been with me for a short while.  
  
This story is a beginning. It concentrates on how I started to understand our world's problems, and barely talks about what I intend to do about them. That is another story.  
  
This story may expose you to issues you've never even heard of, but they are ones that I know about and in many cases have encountered in my travels. It may change your views on various issues. I will be trying to present this story to you with as little bias as possible, even considering the fact I was involved. In the end, your morals are your decision, not mine. However, I'm fairly confident that this story will change a lot of beasts.  
  
Will you be one of them?  
  
Are you ready to take the plunge into the river? 


End file.
